What Happened?

Shares of debt recovery company Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ: ECPG) jumped 7.3% in the morning session after it posted fourth-quarter 2025 results that easily surpassed Wall Street's expectations. 

The company reported revenue of $473.6 million, a significant 78.3% increase from the same quarter last year and well ahead of the $422.2 million analysts had anticipated. The outperformance continued on the bottom line, with earnings per share of $3.37, which was 51.1% higher than the consensus estimate of $2.23. This marked a substantial turnaround from the loss of $9.42 per share reported in the prior-year period, signaling a strong improvement in profitability for the company.

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What Is The Market Telling Us

Encore Capital Group’s shares are quite volatile and have had 18 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 4 months ago when the stock gained 13.1% on the news that the company reported third-quarter 2025 results that significantly surpassed Wall Street's expectations. The company posted revenue of $460.4 million, a 25.4% increase year on year, which beat analyst forecasts by nearly 12%. Its earnings per share (EPS) of $3.17 was a massive 60.1% above consensus estimates of $1.98. The strong results were driven by higher-than-expected collections, which also led to a significant improvement in profitability. Encore's pre-tax profit margin for the quarter was 21.7%, a notable increase of 10.6 percentage points compared to the same period last year, signaling greater operational efficiency.

Encore Capital Group is up 13% since the beginning of the year, and at $63.18 per share, has set a new 52-week high. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Encore Capital Group’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,890.

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